Kasab trial: ‘Pak Army sponsored the 26/11 attacks’

Attired in white kurta and pyjama,22-year-old Ajmal Kasab,the lone surviving Pakistani gunman,was seen in the dock covering his face with a handkerchief most of the time. Two other accused,Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed,sat besides him on a bench.

Nikam said Kasab and the nine other slain terrorists had undergone military and intelligence training in Pakistan given by activists of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and supervised by certain officers of the Pakistan Army.

“Kasab in his confession has said one Major General was present during their training and supervised the firing practice. The name of this Major General was deliberately not revealed to the attackers as he occupies a senior position in the army,” Nikam said.

The Major General had taken keen interest during the firing practice and even patted Kasab for his good shots at targets,he said.

Kasab,he said,was a well trained commando and had also been imparted intelligence training to mislead the court. He had taken U-turns a number of times by making confessions and later retracting them,Nikam said. Alleging that the LeT and the Army were hand-in glove,the prosecution said a deliberate attempt was made by the conspirators to conceal Pakistan’s involvement in the attack.

“The attackers were given fake identity cards under fictitious Indian names to conceal their nationality so that Pakistan’s name did not surface. Slain terrorist Imran Babbar had even contacted a TV news channel during the attacks and claimed that he was from Hyderabad,” Nikam argued.

Nikam said top LeT leaders including Hafeez Sayeed and Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi were present at the Pakistan training camp.

The conspirators had directed the terrorists not to reveal their true identity and nationality to ensure that Pakistan’s name does not crop up in the attack.

“Till date Pakistan has refused to take responsibility for the attacks and not yet claimed bodies of the nine slain terrorists,” Nikam said. “Are they apprehending that relatives of the slain terrorists would reveal the secrets”? he asked.

Nikam said that Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) accounts were opened prior to the attacks through Callphonex,a service provider in New Jersey to use mobile phones and the payments were made by Mohammad Iqbal,a Pakistani national.

Summing up,Nikam said “When I was leading evidence I was looking at the larger picture to get to the root of the conspiracy and find out who were conspirators of this attack.

The terror of this nature would not have been possible without overt support of organised state actors”.